1 Introduction. ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK used to mark short vowels in Shina and Palula 08FF

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1 To: UTC and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2 WG2 Title: Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK From: Lorna A. Priest (SIL International) Date: 31 January Introduction ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK is used by the Palula [phl] (population estimated at 10,000) and Shina [scl] (population estimated at 800,000) languages of Northern Pakistan. The character we are proposing is used in orthographies to mark short vowels in word final position and, in the case of Palula, sometimes word-medially. In Palula it serves a central function in the language as the long-short distinction carries a high functional load, but for lexical and grammatical differentiation; for instance, the nominative-genitive contrast in one of the three main noun declensions is entirely dependent on the absence vs. presence of the shortness mark. Figures 1-3 are examples of Palula usage. Shina has five vowels (/a,e,i,o,u/) each of which has long and short forms. Thus, Shina uses ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK extensively for short vowels in all positions of the word, initially, medially and finally. Specifically, for short /o/ on top of U+0648 ARABIC LETTER WAW in all positions and for short /e/ on top of U+06CC ARABIC LETTER FARSI YEH word initially and medially, and U+06D2 ARABIC LETTER YEH BAREE word finally. (Short vowels /a,i,u/ are represented with diacritics U+064E ARABIC FATHA, U+0650 ARABIC KASRA, U+064F ARABIC DAMMA, respectively.) Figures 4-7 are examples of Shina usage. The character we are proposing has been placed in custom-encoded fonts at the codepoint for U+06E1 (ARABIC SMALL HIGH DOTLESS HEAD OF KHAH, also called ARABIC JAZM). U+06E1 typically marks the absence of a vowel and as a Koranic mark is not generally encouraged for use in orthographies. ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK is also similar in shape to some versions of the ARABIC SUKUN (U+0652). However, sukun has specific functions in Arabic which are totally different from marking a vowel character as short. Both U+06E1 and U+0652 mark absence of a vowel. U+0652 can also mean to ignore the consonant (see Milo s document, page 3). This is also an inappropriate meaning for the character we are proposing. Historically, ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK was selected to mark vowel shortness by a group of men who are speakers of these northern Pakistan languages and who are well versed in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu; they are familiar with all the various diacritics of the Quran and their meaning; they are well aware of the different calligraphic styles of both Naskh and Nastaliq scripts. To them, this ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK is not a Quranic marker, it is not a sukun and it is not specific to either Naskh or Nastaliq calligraphic styles. It is a diacritic to mark a vowel character as short in their local languages. The shape for this character should be like a rotated U+0658 ARABIC MARK NOON GHUNNA. If the name is not appropriate, another option would be to call it ARABIC MARK ROTATED NOON GHUNNA. If the character in this proposal is accepted, the following character would exist: 08FF ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK used to mark short vowels in Shina and Palula Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 1 of 10

2 2 Unicode character Properties 08FF;ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK;Mn;230;NSM;;;;;N;;;;; 3 Normalization Issues There are no normalization issues for this character. 4 Confusables It s possible this character could be confused with some glyph variants of U+0652 ARABIC SUKUN. 5 Suggested Collation Suggested collation is as follows: 0658 << 08FF << 0659 The character proposed in this document is colored in red between the black characters already in the standard. 6 Shina and Palula Character Sets ݜ ش س ڙ ز ڑ ر ڈ د څ ڇ چ ج ٹ ت پ ب ا ا scl ݜ ش س ڙ ژ ز ڑ ر ذ ڈ د خ ح څ ڇ چ ج ث ٹ ت پ ب ا ا phl ھ ه ؤ او ا و و ن گ ں ݨ ن م ل گ ک scl ھ ه و ں ݨ ن م ل گ ک ق ف غ ع ظ ط ض ص phl scl اے ئ ای ی phl ے ی Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 2 of 10

3 7 Figures Figure 1. Palula Alif, be. p 36. Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 3 of 10

4 Figure 2. Zangali hifaazat. p 3. Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 4 of 10

5 Figure 3. Palula shiluuka. p 30. Figure 4. Daddii Shilooke (2001). Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 5 of 10

6 Figure 5. Daddii Shilooke (2007). P 55. Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 6 of 10

7 Figure 6. Daddii Shilooke Dusarii Jild (2008). Figure 7. Shina, Urdu, Angrezii Bol Chal (2010). Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 7 of 10

8 8 References Haider, Naseem (editor) Palula Alif, be [Palula ABC]. Peshawar, Pakistan: Anjuman-etaraqqi-e-Palula and Frontier Language Institute. 41 p.. Palula shiluuka [Palula stories]. Peshawar, Pakistan: Anjuman-e-taraqqi-e-Palula and Frontier Language Institute. 40 p. Haider, Naseem & Ahmad, Munir (editors) Zangali hifaazat [Benefits of the forest, story no. 6]. Stage 1, Short stories, Year 1, Palula Multilingual Education. Drosh, Chitral: Anjuman-e-taraqqi-e-Palula. 6 p. Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: Milo, Thomas Variants in Arabic script related to L2/ (L2/01-325). Shakil Ahmad Shakil (compiler). March Daddii Shilooke [Grandmother s Stories]. Informal Committee for the Promotion of Shina Culture and Language. Gilgit, Pakistan.. May Daddii Shilooke [Grandmother s Stories (Revised Orthography)]. Shina Culture and Language Promotion Society. Gilgit, Pakistan.. April Daddii Shilooke Dusarii Jild [Grandmother s Stories Volume 2]. Shina Language and Culture Promotion Society. Gilgit, Pakistan.. February Shina, Urdu, Angrezii Bol Chal [Shina, Urdu, English Conversation, Revised Edition]. Shina Language and Culture Promotion Society. Gilgit, Pakistan. Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 8 of 10

9 ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 2/WG 2 PROPOSAL SUMMARY FORM TO ACCOMPANY SUBMISSIONS FOR ADDITIONS TO THE REPERTOIRE OF ISO/IEC Please fill all the sections A, B and C below. Please read Principles and Procedures Document (P & P) from for guidelines and details before filling this form. Please ensure you are using the latest Form from See also for latest Roadmaps. A. Administrative 1. Title: Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK 2. Requester's name: Lorna A. Priest 3. Requester type (Member body/liaison/individual contribution): Individual contribution 4. Submission date: 31 January Requester's reference (if applicable): 6. Choose one of the following: This is a complete proposal: or, More information will be provided later: B. Technical General 1. Choose one of the following: a. This proposal is for a new script (set of characters): No Proposed name of script: b. The proposal is for addition of character(s) to an existing block: Name of the existing block: Arabic Extended-A 2. Number of characters in proposal: 1 3. Proposed category (select one from below - see section 2.2 of P&P document): A-Contemporary x B.1-Specialized (small collection) B.2-Specialized (large collection) C-Major extinct D-Attested extinct E-Minor extinct F-Archaic Hieroglyphic or Ideographic G-Obscure or questionable usage symbols 4. Proposed Level of Implementation (1, 2 or 3) (see Annex K in P&P document): 2 Is a rationale provided for the choice? If, reference: Arabic is always 2 5. Is a repertoire including character names provided? a. If YES, are the names in accordance with the character naming guidelines in Annex L of P&P document? b. Are the character shapes attached in a legible form suitable for review? 6. Who will provide the appropriate computerized font (ordered preference: True Type, or PostScript format) for publishing the standard? Lorna Priest, SIL International If available now, identify source(s) for the font (include address, , ftp-site, etc.) and indicate the tools used: FontLab 7. References: a. Are references (to other character sets, dictionaries, descriptive texts etc.) No provided? b. Are published examples of use (such as samples from newspapers, magazines, or other sources) of proposed characters attached? 8. Special encoding issues: Does the proposal address other aspects of character data processing (if applicable) such as input, presentation, sorting, searching, indexing, transliteration etc. (if yes please enclose information)?, suggested character properties and sorting information is included 9. Additional Information: Submitters are invited to provide any additional information about Properties of the proposed Character(s) or Script that will assist in correct understanding of and correct linguistic processing of the proposed character(s) or script. Examples of such properties are: Casing information, Numeric information, Currency information, Display behaviour information such as line breaks, widths etc., Combining behaviour, Spacing behaviour, Directional behaviour, Default Collation behaviour, relevance in Mark Up contexts, Compatibility equivalence and other Unicode normalization related information. See the Unicode standard at for such information on other scripts. Also see and associated Unicode Technical Reports for information needed for consideration by the Unicode Technical Committee for inclusion in the Unicode Standard. 1 Form number: N2652-F (Original ; Revised , , , , , , , ) Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 9 of 10

10 C. Technical - Justification 1. Has this proposal for addition of character(s) been submitted before? No If YES explain 2. Has contact been made to members of the user community (for example: National Body, user groups of the script or characters, other experts, etc.)? If YES, with whom? linguists If YES, available relevant documents: communication 3. Information on the user community for the proposed characters (for example: size, demographics, information technology use, or publishing use) is included? Reference: See Introduction 4. The context of use for the proposed characters (type of use; common or rare) Common Reference: 5. Are the proposed characters in current use by the user community? If YES, where? Reference: 6. After giving due considerations to the principles in the P&P document must the proposed characters be entirely in the BMP? If YES, is a rationale provided? If YES, reference: This is an existing script in the BMP and these should be in same plane 7. Should the proposed characters be kept together in a contiguous range (rather than being scattered)? 8. Can any of the proposed characters be considered a presentation form of an existing character or character sequence? If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided? If YES, reference: 9. Can any of the proposed characters be encoded using a composed character sequence of either existing characters or other proposed characters? No If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided? If YES, reference: 10. Can any of the proposed character(s) be considered to be similar (in appearance or function) to an existing character? If YES, is a rationale for its inclusion provided? If YES, reference: All information is in proposal 11. Does the proposal include use of combining characters and/or use of composite sequences? If YES, is a rationale for such use provided? If YES, reference: Is a list of composite sequences and their corresponding glyph images (graphic symbols) provided? No If YES, reference: 12. Does the proposal contain characters with any special properties such as No control function or similar semantics? If YES, describe in detail (include attachment if necessary) 13. Does the proposal contain any Ideographic compatibility character(s)? No If YES, is the equivalent corresponding unified ideographic character(s) identified? If YES, reference: Proposal to add ARABIC SHORT VOWEL MARK (31 January 2011) Page 10 of 10